Our "Noises Off" set in rotation

JLNorthGA

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Forty + casters. I am providing the motive power and Natalie is making sure that the hinged door flat doesn't hang on anything.
 
Nice work! is it on a pivot point as well, or just moving freely?
 
Pivot point as recommended here. 2" pipe nipple in a flange on bottom and 1 1/2" pipe nipple in a flange on the wagon - packed full of grease. All casters are perpendicular to the radii.
 
Looks good. I hope your stage floor holds up better than ours did - it looked like an archery target with concentric circles after the run.
 
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Forty + casters. I am providing the motive power and Natalie is making sure that the hinged door flat doesn't hang on anything.

Did you ever post plans for this one? Would especially be interested in a schematic for caster placement.
Any special technique to get casters accurately placed along the radii?
Thanks much.
 
Did you ever post plans for this one? Would especially be interested in a schematic for caster placement.
Any special technique to get casters accurately placed along the radii?
Thanks much.
@jneveaux Are you planning to run rigid casters screwed to your stage facing up (Recommended) or casters secured to your revolve and facing down? Accurately aligned rigid, non swiveling, casters facing up are most economical and won't leave a 'bull's eye pattern on your stage. Accurate alignment is fairly easily accomplished with the aid of a long, straight 1"x3" pivoting from your center point.
Swiveling casters are the WRONG and MORE COSTLY choice.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
Agree with Ron. We did a set for Christmas Carol a year or so back and I don't remember exactly how I did the math, but I positioned each fixed caster to be no more than 24" from any of it's neighbors. We did casters up as well and they both moved so easily.
 
Did you ever post plans for this one? Would especially be interested in a schematic for caster placement.
Any special technique to get casters accurately placed along the radii?
Thanks much.
No. The show was years ago - so I no longer have the plans. After the base “joists“ were laid out and assembled - we blocked it up. As Ron said, we used 1x3s to lay out the radii from the central pivot point. Rigid casters were placed perpendicular to the radii at about 5’ intervals. The base was “flipped“ over (using several people and the over head pipe system). We lucked out in that we didn’t have to have more casters than the 40.
 
@jneveaux Are you planning to run rigid casters screwed to your stage facing up (Recommended) or casters secured to your revolve and facing down? Accurately aligned rigid, non swiveling, casters facing up are most economical and won't leave a 'bull's eye pattern on your stage. Accurate alignment is fairly easily accomplished with the aid of a long, straight 1"x3" pivoting from your center point.
Swiveling casters are the WRONG and MORE COSTLY choice.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
@jneveaux Two more plusses to rigid, non swiveling, casters facing up:
1 - Items which invariably disappear under turntables won't interfere with operation.
2 - A small removable access panel, coupled with rotation, will let you access / replace any troublesome casters without any need to lift your entire table.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
@jneveaux Are you planning to run rigid casters screwed to your stage facing up (Recommended) or casters secured to your revolve and facing down? Accurately aligned rigid, non swiveling, casters facing up are most economical and won't leave a 'bull's eye pattern on your stage. Accurate alignment is fairly easily accomplished with the aid of a long, straight 1"x3" pivoting from your center point.
Swiveling casters are the WRONG and MORE COSTLY choice.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
Definitely not planning to use swivels. The problem I have as I see it is that my platform is oblong (neither round nor symmetrical) and casters on the floor would not pick up the extreme ends.
 
Definitely not planning to use swivels. The problem I have as I see it is that my platform is oblong (neither round nor symmetrical) and casters on the floor would not pick up the extreme ends.
@jneveaux Have you considered rigid casters facing down on the ends hidden by an opaque cloth skirt so you could reach under in the inevitable times of need?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
Mostly for posterity, I've done Noises Off where there wasn't room for a turntable, so instead we built the set on three wagons that could come apart so they had enough room to each spin and slide past each other and reassemble backwards. But it would be a great moment to spin the whole set top of Act II.
 

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